"He wants us to be mentally tougher, because next year every team will be out to get us after we made the grand final.

"It's all about being ready for whatever happens in a game.

"We might drop five balls straight and we've got to be mentally prepared to deal with what comes after that.

"We've got to adapt to that and I really do think the boys have higher expectations than last year.

"I can see a lot of the boys are hungry. No one likes what happened in the grand final."

Canterbury are out to break an alarming trend for beaten grand finalists, with the previous three runners-up - Eels, Roosters and Warriors - failing to make the finals the next season. To steel his troops, Hasler purchased an altitude chamber with the $100,000 prizemoney from this year's minor premiership.

It's the newest gadget in Hasler's Belmore sweatshop, where some players have spent 14 hours a day.

"Last Wednesday was a long one," Reynolds said.

"We had a mixed session with the Harold Matthews and SG Ball teams.

"But it's pre-season training and if you get one or two days like that you can't complain.

"There's been a few (grand final) teams that have missed the finals, but I don't think that will happen to us.

"To me, that would be the worst thing that could happen.

"No one can afford to be complacent. Ben Barba had a wonderful year and I can tell you he's training harder than ever, trying to fix little things. We've set high standards and we know what we're capable of.

"If we don't meet those standards other teams will blow us off the park."

A few weeks ago Hasler also guided the Bulldogs on a pre-dawn trip to the northern beaches, where members of the navy ran military-style drills on the sand.

"That was probably the hardest training session I've done," Reynolds said. "Their job was to try to break us and a few of the boys did it very tough."

One thing Reynolds has been trying in vain to forget is the pain of losing his first decider.

"I try not to think about it, but it does pop into my head every now and then," he said.